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Times have changed, the economy has changed, and millennial mind sets have changed. Historically, the American Dream included settling down and owning a home. However, today more and more millennials are opting to rent, whether it’s because they can’t afford to buy a house or simply don’t want to be anchored down to one location. The Urban Land Institute updated their study on Millennials and housing which found “that nearly half (45 percent) of the [renters surveyed] moved at least twice in the past three years, and one-third moved once in that time. Just one of five stayed in place for three years." That is a lot of moving and it never takes just a day or two. Whether someone is moving to a different apartment across town or relocating to a new city, the process of finding the right place, packing important and not-so-important belongings into boxes, unpacking everything, and getting situated into a new abode can take over someone’s life.

Balancing work, life, and a move requires you to coordinate a lot of moving pieces. Keep one to-do list for work and one for the move to keep things organized and clear. If possible, add due dates to your to-do lists and schedule them on your calendar. Between gathering all of your belongings, finding and filling boxes, signing all of the rental paperwork, coordinating the moving truck, or if your lucky, movers, and then unpacking and arranging everything often takes more than a month. Trying to keep track of all these things in your mind can be distracting and pull your mental attention away from work.

Take some time and write out a to-do list for the move so you can stay organized. Ideally you would keep this somewhere that is always accessible, such as your phone, so you can add to it when things pop up. By taking the thought out of your mind and putting it down for later reference, you could maintain greater focus at work. It is equally important for you to stay organized at work with a running to-do list so the same mental chaos doesn’t happen when it comes time to concentrate on moving tasks.